Get Out Of The Way

Amazing, I think we underestimate children:

Tis the Season - Propaganda

So your assignment tonight is to read this: Recognizing Propaganda Techniques and Errors of Faulty Logic
and then put your new knowledge to use finding all examples of these techniques during tonight's Presidential Debates.

Discuss in Comments if you like.

Cage Match - TriCaster vs. Sony Anycast

Update Aug. 2010: At the end check out my newest updates to this article covering HD varient of the AnyCast, the AWS-G500E. More info on the various TriCaster models.

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People keep asking so I'll tell you what I think. First let me begin by saying this isn't going to be a fair fight so don't whine when your favorite Japanese company's product comes up bruised and bleeding. :)


OK so the most striking difference between the two is obviously the price. The TriCaster Pro setup is half the price of the Anycast. The Anycast wins on inputs but of course we could always upgrade to a TriCaster Studio and still beat Sony's price by eight grand. The Anycast also wins on convenience as it's an all in one unit whereas the TriCaster has a separate monitor and external controller. Oh, and the Anycast has a VISCA controller. The TriCaster requires a third party add-on for this.

In every other area it's a take down for the TriCaster. My major complaints with the Anycast are: Real Media Streaming! what's up with that? A rubber slider is a poor excuse for a T-bar. All the configuration is done through a menu system with a little scroll wheel so it's not practical to make any changes during a production. You cannot make changes to a CG during a production, all imported graphics must be put on a memory stick and then copied to the internal hard drive before you can use them. And you have to use the stupid menus to move the file. Assigning one of the wipes to the wipe button was is also clunky and again not really practical to do during a production. The monitor may be built in but it's kinda small. Running big, long RGB cables from the presenters laptop all the way to the Anycast is no fun.

On the plus side for the TriCaster Pro: Update CGs on the fly even while one is being displayed. Sophisticated external controller, see my review of the LC-11 here. Simple point and click user interface with a mouse. Complete live virtual set and chroma key system built in. Built in video editor. Windows or Flash streaming. Record the production to the hard drive. iVGA makes it easy to input a presenters screen via a network cable or even via WiFi. Four different models and several different controllers to choose from so you can configure a system to meet both your needs and your budget.

So I don't see many reasons to go with an Anycast over a TriCaster the AnyCast is just too limited. Even if you absolutely need Real Media Streaming I'm pretty sure I can get Real Encoder to run on a TriCaster.


Next Time We'll beat up on a GlobeCaster! It won't be pretty.

Sony Anycast Basic Specs

Video I/O

• 4 Composite or Y/C video inputs
• 2 RGB (XGA or SXGA) inputs
• 1 Composite, 1 Y/C and 1 DVI (RGB) output

Audio I/O

• 2 XLR and 4 1/4" Phone Jacks for microphone in
• 1 RCA pair for line level input 
• Phantom Power 

Streaming

• Real Media 

Transistions

• Cross-Dissolve
• 16 Simple Wipes 

DDR

• No 

Other features

• Built in monitor
• Built In Visca (robotic camera control)

List Price $20,000

TriCaster Pro with LC-11  Basic Specs

Video I/O

• 3 Composite, Y/C or Component video inputs
• 1 Composite, 1 Y/C, 1 Component and 1 DVI (RGB) output
• 3 iVGA inputs (VGA, XGA.SXGA, WXGA via network)
  

Audio I/O

• 2 XLR/Phone Jacks for microphone or line inputs
• 1 RCA pair for line level input  
• Phantom Power

Streaming

• Windows Media
• Flash
  
  

Transistions

• Cross-Dissolve
• 200+ Wipes, Curls and DVEs
  

DDR

• Yes + Still Store 

Other features

• Virtual Sets
• Chroma Keyer
• Animated Overlays
• Record Entire Production To Hard Drive
• Video Editor 

 List Price $10,000 ($10,300 if you include a monitor)

Aug 2010 Update:

Sony is now shipping the Anycast AWS-G500E which has interchangable I/O modules. A few other new features include a chromakeyer and a built in CG (still can't make changes on the fly). Almost everything else is the same.

Pricing for the AnyCast:

$13,000 for the base unit with no input cards.
SD SDI I/O (2 inputs) $2,200
HD SDI I/O (2 inputs) $3,200
SD analog I/O (2 inputs) $1600
HD Component Analog  $3,000
RGB I/O $1,700

So a four input HD system will be pushing $19,400 while a SD analog system is over $16,000

The TriCaster TCXD300 three input HD model with LC-11 controller is going to run under $17,000 so for about the same price as an SD Anycast you can get a full HD TriCaster. NewTek also has the TCXD850 with eight inputs if you need even more. Both models of TriCaster TCXD have feature sets that exceed even what the SD TriCasters bring to the table.

NewTek Codecs

NewTek has three* proprietary codecs that are included in their various products.

The oldest is the RTV format this is an uncompressed 4:2:2 format that doesn't include audio. They can be identified by the .RTV extension. File size is large at about 1160MB (1.16GB) per minute of video and have a data rate of about 25 megabytes per second. 720X486 and 720x480 are supported for NTSC as well as 720x576 for PAL. Optionally the file can contain an alpha channel. Audio is stored in a separate standard .WAV file. RTV files are supported By Frame Factory, VTNT, VideoToaster 2, VT[3], VT[4] and VT[5], SpeedEDIT, Aura and Lightwave. TriCasters can play but not record RTVs.

VT[4] introduced the NT25 codec. This is an AVI format, compressed about 5:1 with a data rate of about 5 MB/S and a file size of about 200 MB per minute. This is about the same size and data rate of the various DV codecs the difference is NT25 is 4:2:2 so it looks better and keys a lot better than DV.
Alpha channel is not supported. Several different sizes are supported the NTSC default is 720x486.

Uncompressed audio is interleaved and can be 16 bit linear or floating point at various sample rates up to 96kHz and mono, stereo or four channel. NT25 is included with VT[4], VT[5], SpeedEDIT and Tricaster but can be installed on any** PC with WinXP or Vista and since it's a standard AVI will work with most Windows software. Sony Vegas is a notable exception.

The latest and greatest codec from NewTek is SpeedHQ which was introduced with SpeedEDIT. This again is a compressed 4:2:2 format with a more efficient algorithm than NT25. SpeedHQ also supports alpha. The big innovation is support for any resolution up to 2048 x 2048 and frame rates to 60i making it good for HD and beyond. At SD resolutions file size and data rates are similar to NT25. The audio is again up to four channel floating point at 96kHz. SpeedEDIT, VT[5] and some TriCasters include SpeedHQ and it can be installed on any** PC running WinXP or Vista.

RTV is not a stand-alone codec so support for it has to be built into a program. The only third party products that supported it are Mirage (a descendant of Aura) and the old SpeedRazor Editor that NewTek bundled with VTNT and VideoToaster 2. NT25 and SpeedHQ can be installed on PCs but there is no Mac version at this time.

Update: The initial release of TriCaster 2.0 records an all 'I' frame variable bit rate, MPEG2 file with embedded layer 3 audio. The first TC 2.0 patch (August 21, 2008) has a slightly modified version that uses layer 2 audio which should be more broadly compatible with various editors.


There, now you know!

*This doesn't include FlyerClip (.FLY) from the Amiga VideoToaster Flyer though it is supported by Aura.
** A cpu with SSE2 is required